A surface cleaning apparatus has a cyclone chamber provided in an air flow path. The cyclone chamber has a screen assembly with an outlet section, a longitudinally spaced apart distal section and a longitudinally extending porous section. The outlet section includes a non-porous member extending longitudinally inwardly an outlet section length from an outlet end of the outlet section to a longitudinally inwardly positioned inlet end of the outlet section. The outlet end of the outlet section overlies a cyclone air outlet. The porous section extends longitudinally inwardly from an outlet end of the porous section that is located at the inlet end of the outlet section. The distal section has a distal section length in the longitudinal direction that is greater than the cyclone outlet port length.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A surface cleaning apparatus comprising: (a) an air flow path extending from a dirty air inlet to a clean air outlet; (b) a suction motor provided in the air flow path; and, (c) a cyclone chamber provided in the air flow path, the cyclone chamber having a cyclone air inlet, a cyclone air outlet, an outlet end, an opposed end that is spaced apart in a longitudinal direction and a screen assembly, the cyclone air inlet having an outlet port that extends a cyclone outlet port length in the longitudinal direction, wherein the cyclone air inlet terminates at the outlet port that is provided in a peripheral sidewall of the cyclone chamber, the cyclone sidewall is parallel to the longitudinal direction whereby air enters the cyclone chamber at the peripheral sidewall of the cyclone chamber and is directed to flow though the cyclone air inlet in a tangential direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the cyclone air outlet is provided at the outlet end of the cyclone chamber, the outlet port having a first outlet port side and a longitudinally spaced apart second outlet port side located longitudinally inwardly from the first outlet port side, wherein the screen assembly comprises an outlet section, a longitudinally spaced apart distal section and a longitudinally extending porous section and the distal section is non-porous, and wherein the outlet section comprises a non-porous member extending longitudinally inwardly an outlet section length from an outlet end of the outlet section, which is located at the outlet end of the cyclone chamber, to a longitudinally inwardly positioned inlet end of the outlet section, and wherein the outlet end of the outlet section overlies the cyclone air outlet, the porous section extends longitudinally inwardly from an outlet end of the porous section that is located at the inlet end of the outlet section to the second outlet port side, and wherein the distal section has a distal section length in the longitudinal direction that is greater than the cyclone outlet port length.
2. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the porous section extends between the distal section and the outlet section.
3. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the distal section of the screen assembly is located at the opposed end of the cyclone chamber.
4. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 3 wherein the cyclone air inlet is located at the opposed end of the cyclone chamber.
5. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 4 wherein the outlet section length is at least as long as the cyclone outlet port length.
6. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 4 wherein the outlet port is spaced from and aligned with the distal section.
7. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 6 wherein the outlet port has first and second longitudinally spaced apart sides, the second side located inwardly from the opposed end of the cyclone chamber and the first side of the outlet port, and a projection of the second side in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction intersects the distal section.
8. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 6 wherein the outlet port has first and second longitudinally spaced apart sides and a projection of each of the first and second sides in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction intersects the distal section.
9. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cyclone air inlet is located at the opposed end of the cyclone chamber.
10. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the distal section of the screen assembly and the cyclone air inlet are each located spaced from the outlet end of the cyclone chamber, the outlet port is spaced from and faces towards the distal section, the outlet port has first and second longitudinally spaced apart sides, the second side located inwardly from the opposed end of the cyclone chamber and the first side of the outlet port, and a projection of the second side in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction intersects the distal section.
11. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the distal section of the screen assembly and the cyclone air inlet are each located spaced from the outlet end of the cyclone chamber and each extends longitudinally towards the outlet end of the cyclone chamber wherein the distal section extends further towards the outlet end of the cyclone chamber than the outlet port of the cyclone air inlet.
12. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a dirt collection chamber exterior to the cyclone chamber, the cyclone chamber has a dirt outlet in communication with the dirt collection chamber wherein the dirt outlet is located at the outlet end of the cyclone chamber.
13. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 12 wherein the dirt outlet has a dirt outlet length in the longitudinal direction that is less than the outlet section length.
14. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 13 wherein the distal section of the screen assembly and the cyclone air inlet are each located spaced from the outlet end of the cyclone chamber and each extends longitudinally towards the outlet end of the cyclone chamber wherein the distal section extends further towards the outlet end of the cyclone chamber than the outlet port of the cyclone air inlet.
15. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 14 wherein the distal section length is greater than the dirt outlet length.
16. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 13 wherein the distal section of the screen assembly and the cyclone air inlet are each located at the opposed end of the cyclone chamber and the outlet section length is at least as long as the cyclone outlet port length.
17. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 16 wherein the distal section length is greater than the dirt outlet length.
18. The surface cleaning apparatus of claim 17 wherein the outlet section length is at least as long as the cyclone outlet port length.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
July 7, 2017
August 4, 2020
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